Letters and Sounds With a Fall Theme

Just wanted to share some of the fun Fall themed activities we have been using here in small group to help reinforce the letters and sounds!

A current favorite is the Pumpkin Letter Identification pack!  

This pack includes

~  2 sets of small pumpkins, one with upper and the other with lower case letters

~ 2 sets of larger pumpkins, again one with upper and the other with lower case letters. 

~  1 upper and 1 lower case pumpkin alphabet chart (for students to color as they reinforce their letter/sound identification) 

My Monster Love Identification pack includes very similar activities, but I incorporated some not so spooky monsters!  

(Want to know a secret??  I use this pack now and even again around Valentine's Day because of the hearts and "love" theme!) 

This pack includes: 

~ 2 sets of letter cards: 1 set of upper case letters and 1 set of lower case letters

~ 1 page of game cards to play simple letter and sound identification game
~ 1 upper and 1 lower case alphabet chart with hearts (for students to color as they reinforce their letter/sound identification) 

Fun activities you could do with either of these packs, include:

~  Practice pointing to and reciting the alphabet with one of the alphabet charts!

~  Match upper to upper, lower to lower, upper to lower, lower to upper case letters by putting the targeted cards into a festive container and having your students select them one at a time and then coloring the matching letter on the alphabet chart!

~  Practice naming letters and/or sounds by putting the targeted cards into a festive container and having your students select them one at a time and name the letter and/or the sound!

For some fun finding cute and matching cute candy corn and pumpkin letters, try my Fall Letter Finds and Mix Ups!

You will find both upper and lower case versions of candy corn and pumpkin:

~  Letter Finds (letters are listed in alphabetical order)

~  Letter Mix-Ups (letters are mixed up on the page)

~  Some suggestions for use at each level, that include using candy corn, candy pumpkins, bingo dotters, and bingo markers!

Finally, my Daisy Scouts had lots of fun creating their snack this week by making a peanut-free spider and mummy juice box!!

Didn't they come out great?

Letter and Sound Assessment

I like to take an inventory of the letters and sounds my students know at the beginning of the school year.  To do this, I use my Letter and Sound Assessment!  
I use this as a means to assess and then monitor the progress throughout the year. 

I begin by showing the students the upper case letters.  I ask them to tell me the name of each letter and what sound it makes.  I then move on to the lower case letters.  Although this isn't a "timed" test, I only give the child credit if they are able to name the letter or sound automatically (within 3 seconds).  They do not get credit if they need to employ some type of strategy in order to recall the letter name or sound (i.e., they have to recite the alphabet, spell their name, etc...).

Because I use this informal assessment multiple times throughout the school year, I make sure to mark the letters and sounds in a different way and with a different color each time I assess.  There is a space to assess the child three times on one form (6 times total if you print front-to-back).

There is also a box to write notes each time the child is assessed.  (I tend to take a lot of notes on my students, do you?)  I like to keep track of what letters/sounds they did not know, especially if they demonstrate inconsistencies between assessment periods.  Another thing I like to note is if the letter or sound seems to be emerging and I note the strategy the student is using to identify it (i.e., they had to spell their name, recite the alphabet, state the letter-keyword-sound in order to produce the sound).  Here is a picture of the assessment with one of my students for some of the year:

I do suggest that you print pages 2-3 front-to-back.  Then you are able to see the child's growth and have the data for six different assessment periods on one sheet of paper!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Valentine Product Updates and SALE!

Hi there!
I spent some time updating two of the products I use for Valentine's Day!

The first one is my 

Sight Word Finds-Love Birds and Puppy Love

I use this as a fun way to practice and reinforce sight words.  I have hidden 16 teeny, tiny words in a full-paged picture.  The students have fun using a magnifying glass to find the words!  I also included a recording sheet for students to write down 15 words as they find them!

This is split up into K and 1.  Each grade has two different Sight Word Finds-Love Birds and Puppy Love.

The following words are hidden:

K-1:  Love Birds:  I, my, go, a, see, can, me, and, is, it, am, in, for, the, at, no

K-2:  Puppy Love:  on, you, like, look, said, to, be, we, not, was, little, this, that, are, up, yes

1-1:  Love Birds:  like, look, said, then, when, with, me, my, from, for, she, he, here, play, all, are

1-2:  Puppy Love:  little, has, his, come, some, here, into, your, went, make, who, away, there, where, what, was  

The second one is my Monster Love Letter Identification.

I use this pack as a fun way to reinforce letters and their sounds.  This is a great addition to any Valentine's Day theme because the graphics used are adorable little monsters with hearts!

Guess what?  Both of these products are listed at half price until Valentine's Day!
Enjoy!

Phoneme Isolation-Beginning and Ending Sounds

Before working on segmenting all of the phonemes in a word, children need to be able to hear the individual phonemes.  According to research, children develop their phonemic awareness on a continuum.  When kiddos start the phoneme level, they begin by listening for the sound heard at the beginning of a word, then the end, and then move onto the middle sound. 

 Many of my students are working to isolate and name the sounds they hear at the beginning and end of words.  They seem to do well with hearing sounds at the beginning of the word, but then tend to become confused when asked to name the sound at the end.

I updated my pack that helps students with the concepts of "beginning" and "ending" in words using the following visual:

I can't remember where I first came across the star with the arrow, but it is something I have used ever since with my little ones.  I have found that it is really helpful in making those concepts more concrete for the kiddos.

I begin my instruction by explicitly teaching the students how to use the visual through modeling.  Here are my general directions:

1.  Start with your finger on the star.

2.  Slowly stretch out (or say) the word.

3.  Slide your finger toward the arrow as you slowly stretch out the word.

I then repeat it again and again, showing that when you begin to stretch the word out, your finger is on the star.  And as you come to the end of the word, your finger is on the arrow head.

As students become more proficient with it, they generally internalize the visual and it is no longer needed.  (This is evident when you see them slide their finger across the table or even in the air.)

Here is what is included in this pack:

~  Star with arrow visual for teacher modeling.

~  Star with arrow visual for student use.

~  27 Picture cards for group work or sorting

~  6 Worksheets for independent practice that provides students with systematic practice as they develop their phoneme awareness (as listed below):

-  "What is at the beginning?"-all pictures begin with continuous consonants.

-  "What is at the beginning again?"-combined pictures of continuous and stop initial consonants.

-  "What is at the end?"-all pictures end with continuous consonants.

-  "What is at the end again?"-combined pictures of continuous and stop final consonants.

-  "Where is the sound?" and "Where is the sound again?"-combined tasks of beginning and ending isolation where the students identify where the sound is heard.

Please note that my initial instruction is based at the sound level.  This is when the students use the visual and picture cards to name the sound they hear.  As students gain knowledge in their letter sound correspondences, I then begin discussing what letter the word would begin or end with and introduce the worksheets for more independent practice.

How do you practice isolating phonemes?

A Letter ID Game for the Entire Year!

As a Reading Teacher who works with Kindergarten students who are below grade level, I tend to work on letter and sound identification throughout the entire school year.  One way I do this is by playing a fun pocket chart game all year long that they just LOVE!  

Here is how to play:

~  Display the target letters on a pocket chart.

~  Choose your picture to "hide" and place it behind one of the letters.

~  Have your students take turns pointing to one of the displayed letters and naming it (and the sound sound).

~  If identified correctly, remove the chosen letter to see if the graphic is hiding behind it!

Here is a close up of the game in use in my classroom:

It is really, very simple!  I will use the same letter cards but change the graphic to go along with the seasons or holidays of each month!  The kids love trying to find the hidden picture!  (The first round of each new month is really fun because I don't tell them ahead of time what is hidden!)

Another nice thing about this game is that I always have it displayed in my pocket chart.  So if I have an extra few minutes here or there, we play a quick game.  The kids have fun and it is reinforcing their letter-sound knowledge! 

I created a document that puts all of the letter cards and pictures together in one download.  The download includes:
-  Cards for the 26 upper and lower case letters.
-  12 pictures to correspond with monthly holidays and/or seasons to hide behind the letter cards.

The uses of this game are endless!  I personally use it with sight words, sight word phrases, and CVC words.  It could be used with numbers, math facts, vocabulary words, etc...  Have you played this game before?

Letter and Sound Fluency at Home

As a reading teacher, parents frequently ask what they can do to support their child at home. Each week, I send my kinderkids home with a packet of homework to complete.  This allows the families to see what the child is working on in class with me.  The packet consists of a Student Reader for the child to read each night, along with activities to practice their phonological awareness and other early literacy skills. 

My district implemented AIMSweb for the first time last year.  I noticed that many of the kids became nervous during progress monitoring, simply because they were not used to being timed.  We find timers everywhere nowadays, (cell phones, microwaves, stovetops, games, etc...), so I decided to include something in the homework pack to provide extra practice with their letters and sounds at home while using a timer.  

I just put the finishing touches on this document to share with you!  It includes 10 different forms intended for homework or 1:1 review with an adult.  Directions are included for kiddos to go through and name their letters, then their sounds, along with an opportunity to repeat the routine to beat their initial score!

 Not only did this provide my students with additional practice with their letters and sounds, but I also found that the more they practiced with a timer, the more comfortable they became.

~ Enjoy!

Can Do! Phonemic Awareness Game Show

I am excited to be able to share my thoughts with you about Lakeshore's Can Do! Phonemic Awareness Game Show!

Although it is indicated for students in Grades 1-2, I played this with my kinderkids, who had so much fun practicing identifying and matching initial, final, and medial sounds.

I was able to put the software right into my computer and guided the student through the game.  

I liked that the 
Can Do!  Phonemic Awareness Game Show 
allows you to choose:
~  up to 4 different teams teams.
~  a futuristic player for each team.
~  the length of the game.  There are options to play up to 4, 6, or 8 points.
~  whether or not you want instructions to play throughout the game or not.
~  to print out a score report at the end of the game. This report is broken down by each category (beginning, middle, and ending sounds).
~  to print out a pre and/or post assessment.

My students had fun selecting a player to represent themselves.   When it was their turn, the robotic host told them to spin the wheel and answer a question to earn points.  Each time a question is answered correctly, something fun happens to the avatars of the other players (the Ice Device is activated, the Super Gooper pours cheese, ketchup, dish soap, or some other goopy material on the players, etc...)

Thank you Lakeshore for allowing me to review the 

Can Do! Phonemic Awareness Game Show!  

It was definitely a hit and will be a great addition to help build my students' phonemic awareness!  I keep hearing, "Can we play that robot game again?"

Ladybugs Letters and Sounds Game

Need some new games to help your students practice letters and sounds?  Many of my students are still working to master them, so I created these cute upper and lower case ladybug letter cards and currently use them with my students in two different games.

Teachers Notebook
Teachers Pay Teachers

One of the games is called, "Ladybugs".  It is a simple card game where you mix up the letter cards and additional playing cards into a pile and place facedown (or put them in a cute Spring themed container).  The students take turns selecting a card and naming the letter and/or sound, or follow the directions written on the card.  Once all of the cards are selected, I flip through each student's pile of letters and have them name the letters or sounds to practice fluency.

The second game is "Find the Ladybug".  This can be played on the tabletop or in a pocket chart.  I use a pocket chart and play this game if I have a few moments to spare before our group time ends.  The kids love it!  This is the same game that I posted about here.  Head over to that post for directions and pictures!

What are some things you do to help your students master their letters and sounds?

St. Patrick's Day Literacy Activities

Here are some St. Patrick's Day themed activities that I will be using in the next few weeks to reinforce some foundational literacy skills.  Click on the pictures to learn more about each activity.

To help practice isolating and segmenting sounds, we will be using plastic gold coins to complete

St. Patty's Day Phoneme Segmentation:

To help practice letter and sound identification, letter writing, and phoneme isolation, my kinderkids will be completing activities from my newly updated 
Lucky Letters Literacy Pack:

And to informally assess correct responses to various phonological skills, I have my students
Color a Lucky Clover:

ABC Mouse App!!

I previously wrote a review for the website ABCmouse.com.

Since then, this site has become a favorite in my house with my little lady.
BUT, have you seen the free apps from ABC Mouse on iTunes?
They have interactive stories, beginning readers, and an interactive zoo!

Their newest app is 26 A-Z Music Videos!

These music videos are great!!   The graphics are cute and colorful and all of the songs are fun and catchy!  They are designed to help reinforce letters and sounds.  

Did I mention that it is FREE??

Now, when you download the app, you start with 3 videos for the letters A, B, and C, along with 100 tickets.  Each time a short video is watched, 1-3 tickets are earned!  Once in awhile, there is a cute little wheel to spin to earn additional tickets.  The tickets earned can then be used to unlock additional videos for free!  (You also have the option to purchase the videos if you choose.)

Now, if you want to check out their other apps, click on the picture below:

Photo courtesy of ABCmouse.com
OR if you have an iTunes account, you can also click here.

And finally, if you wanted to read the review I wrote back in August for the ABC Mouse website, click here.  
(You can learn how to set up a FREE classroom account!!)

Lucky Letter Literacy Pack UPDATED!

In getting ready for St. Patrick's Day, I updated my Lucky Letters Literacy Pack! 

This pack includes upper and lower case versions of:

Lucky Letter Finds (alphabet charts)

Lucky Letter Mix-Ups (letters are mixed up)

Color the Lucky Letters ABC Paths

Write the Lucky Letters

It also includes worksheets for the students to circle the

beginning, ending, and now middle sounds of the words pictured.

Teachers Notebook

Teachers Pay Teachers

I realized that some of the original pictures did not align with the Common Core Learning Standards (a few pictures ended with "l" or "r"), so I went ahead and changed them.  

Here are some of the Kindergarten Common Core Learning Standards that can be addressed when using the Lucky Letters Literacy Pack:

RF.K.1d- Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.
RF.K.2d- Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in three-phoneme (consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC) words.* (This does not include CVCs ending with /l/, /r/, or /x/.)
RF.K.3a- Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary sound or many of the most frequent sounds for each consonant.
RF.K.3b- Associate the long and short sounds with common spellings (graphemes) for the five major
vowels.
LS.K.1a- Print many upper- and lowercase letters.

Snowman Letters and Sounds

At school, we just completed our AIMSweb Benchmarking.  
Most of the kiddos had a great deal of difficulty with Letter Sound Fluency (LSF).  If you are unfamiliar with AIMSweb, this is where the student is presented with a random series of upper and lower case letters and they need to produce as many sounds as they can in 1 minute.  

When I assessed them with my Letter-Sound Assessment to see exactly what letters and sounds they knew, I found that many of them simply didn't know many letter-sound correspondences.  So they really need a boost in this area.

One game that I like to play with my kiddos is the, 
"Hide/Find the ____" game.  
This game has been around for years and years, but I just love how you can make simple changes and the kids continue to love it each and every time they play it.

I didn't have any fun alphabet cards to use for the winter season (well, none that wasn't currently part of an activity I would be using), so I made these Snowman Alphabet cards to place into a pocket chart and play, "Hide the Penguin" to reinforce letters and sounds.

Teachers Notebook
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How do I play, Hide the Penguin?

Well, do you see that little penguin above?

He is the little guy who I hide behind the cards.

I simply place the letters I want to reinforce  into my pocket chart, as seen below (I play this game with sight words too).

  I then hide the little penguin behind one of the cards.

The kiddos take turns naming a letter and/or producing a sound trying to find the penguin!

Have you played this game before?  Do your kids like it as much as mine?

If you are interested in my Letter-Sound Assessment, you can find it in both of my shops!

Teachers Notebook

Teachers Pay Teachers

Updated Snowman Letter Identification-LiPS

Hello there!

Completely unrelated to teaching, I wanted to share some of my favorite pictures from the past few weeks of my little ladies.  

Paige was an angel in her school Christmas play and she lost her first tooth (she pulled it out all by herself).  She has been loving the snow that has been falling for the last few days and is excited to celebrate her birthday just next week.  Saydie is also enjoying the snow and the Christmas season!  
She LOVES to open presents, too!

Do any of you have to complete an Evidence Binder?  In case you have no idea what I am talking about, it is now part of New York State's new teacher evaluation plan.  Since the beginning of the school year I have been shoving my "evidence" into the front of my binder.  I really need to sit down to sort through and organize what has been collected so far.  

I added some fun game cards to my Snowman Letter Identification!

Now in addition to using the letter cards with the alphabet charts, you can also use the letter cards with the new game cards to play a fun card game to reinforce letters and sounds.

You can find my Snowman Letter Identification in both of my shops, just click on one of the links below:

Teachers Pay Teachers

Teachers Notebook

Last, but not least, before break I was able to attend a one-day training for the Lindamood-Bell Phoneme Sequencing program called LiPS.  Do any of you currently use the program?  I would like to start incorporating it into my instruction with some of my kinderkids who are REALLY struggling with letter identification, but would love some feedback from real teachers who are using it!  What are your thoughts?

Sleigh Full of Goodies-Presents!

Thanks for continuing along the

If you missed the two stops on the blog hop from Day 1,
make sure you click on the picture above!!

In my sleigh, you will find my 
Christmas Present Letter Identification pack 
This will be FREE, for the next 12 days!

In addition to the blog hop, I am also linking up with Day 1 of 

hosted by Amy of Teaching My 3.

Click on the picture below to hop over to The Lower Elementary Cottage to see what she has in her sleigh!

Thank you Beth from Thinking of Teaching for hosting this merry blog hop!!

Do you have something you would like to share?  

Please link up and join in the fun!!

Turkey Letters and Sounds

One of my favorite holidays happens to be just around the corner!

Thanksgiving of course!

I love gathering with family and eating delicious food!!  
What can be better than that?!

Are you working on introducing and reinforcing letters and sounds?  I created a Turkey Letters and Sounds Pack just for Thanksgiving, with cute little turkeys!  

Don't forget that I also included some cute Thanksgiving pages in the Roll and Say activity to help promote fluency with letters and sounds.

Finally, I have a game board that could be used when reinforcing almost anything.  It is available for FREE!!

Gobble!  Gobble!!

Fluency with Letters and Sounds

Today was a short day at school.  We were dismissed early and will not have school tomorrow due to Sandy.  Being in the northeast, we luckily we have emergency days built into our school year for snowstorms and other emergencies.  Who knew we would use the some of those days for hurricanes two years in a row?  Good news is that it has given me time to let you know what I've been up to!!

I have mentioned in previous posts that my district has adopted and implemented AIMSweb for the first time this year.  Through this assessment, many of my firsties showed weaknesses in both Letter Naming Fluency (LNF) and Letter Sound Fluency (LSF).  For those of you who are not familiar with the assessment, the students are presented with rows of random upper and lower case letters and are asked to name as many letters as they can in one minute for LNF, or as many sounds as they can in one minute for LSF.

LNF and LSF does not tell me what letters and sounds my students know or continue to need more practice with.  To help learn more about this, I also assessed them with my

I found that they did know most of their letters and sounds.  When I put the results of the two assessments together, it showed me that they need extra practice naming their letters and producing their sounds automatically and fluently.  

As a reading teacher, my time with students is limited.  So in addition to providing instruction to my firsties, I also want to provide them with some time for extra fluency practice.  The first few minutes of my intervention time is devoted to practicing this fluency through a quick activity, depending on the day of the week.  
Here is what I have started to do:

Here are some examples of quick activities I do each day:

On Move it Monday, I generally play a quick game where the students are moving game pieces or their bodies.  For example, games like 

and

On Time it Tuesday I have been using my 

I just updated this pack to include a combination of upper and lower case letters.  

For One Breath Wednesday, a wonderful colleague and I created several little ticket-sized boxes with two rows of letters.  My students select their "ticket" and then read each line in one breath. 

Totally unrelated to letters and sounds, I wanted to share with you that we created these tickets after downloading and using Donna Coleman's fabulous "One Breath Boxes" for sight words! 

For Throw it Thursday we will play 

This is a brand new pack that I just uploaded to TPT.  I included two versions for the months of October, November December.

Flip it Friday is usually done with some type of alphabet letter cards.  I have many different sets with different themes, so they are "new" to the kiddos almost each and every time.  I quickly flip through the pile for my students to name the letters or produce the sounds as quickly as they can.

Hopefully these quick daily speed drills will help my firsties increase their automaticity and fluency with their letters and sounds!  What are some activities you do to help promote these skills?

And for those of you who are also affected by Sandy, my thoughts and prayers are with you!  Stay safe!

It is Fall!!

It is Fall!  The air is crisp in the evenings and the leaves are beginning to change color here in the Northeast.  I am looking forward to the beautiful changes Mother Nature has in store for the season!

Just for Fall, I wanted to share with you one of my Emergent Student Readers called, "The Colors of Fall"

This Student Reader is a part of my 
Emergent Student Readers Set 1

Here are some other products I have available that are perfect for the season to help reinforce early literacy skills for your little literacy learners!

Fall Letter Finds and Mix-Ups

Pumpkin Letter Identification

Introducing Letters and Sounds-Mnemonics

This is my third post in a series where I share with you my favorite activities and methods to expose our little literacy learners to the letters of the alphabet.  If you missed my first post about how much I love alphabet charts, you can click here.  If you missed my second post where I discuss using the letters in the child's name, you can click here.  This post will discuss my favorite way to incorporate sounds 
using mnemonics.

A mnemonic is a device used to aid in remembering something.  When it comes to the alphabet, the mnemonics are the pictures that begin with the sound made by the letter.  These pictures provide the children with a type of connection to the letter sound as they add it to their memory banks.  
For example an "apple" for the letter "Aa", a "bed" for the letter "Bb", and a "cat" for the letter "Cc".

  I feel lucky that our school adopted a set of universal mnemonics that are displayed consistently in every primary classroom.  We have a very talented retired teacher in the district who sat down and drew the pictures to go along with each letter.  I have these mnemonics up on my classroom wall, in an alphabet chart, and on flashcards. As I introduce each letter in my small groups, I reinforce it by saying the letter name, picture, and sound.  
For example, "A, apple, /a/".


There are so many wonderful letter-sound picture cards out there that can serve as mnemonics.  Here are links to two of my absolute favorites.  Each one uses a good, clear primary font and the picture that corresponds with each letter is very simple and unambiguous for children of all backgrounds.

Annie from The Moffatt Girls

Angelia from Extra Special Teaching

A resource that I love to use that incorporates mnemonics is the LeapFrog Letter Factory video.

Have you seen it?  LeapFrog has introduced the letters in a multisensory manner by allowing the child to attach the letter to its sound by a movement or action.  All of the letters are inside the Letter Factory training to make their correct sounds. They are each in their own rooms as Tad the Frog is introduced to them.  For example, all of the "C's" are shivering because they are "C...C...C...cold".

After each letter is introduced, they sing a simple song with a cute little tune that is easily picked up by children:   "The A says /a/.  
The A says /a/. 
Every letter makes a sound.  
The A says /a/."

I posted about this little video here when I was first introduced to it.  My daughter loved it!  I also found these awesome printable letter cards to go along with the mnemonics used in the movie on a blog called, Running With Scissors.  These letter cards are drawn by hand, didn't they come out beautiful?

I actually recommend this video to all of my parents to use as an additional tool at home to support their child's letter-sound development.  It is fairly inexpensive and can be purchased almost anywhere!  

What do you do to help your little literacy learners connect the letters of the alphabet with their sounds?